Mess of Greens

full bellies | warm welcomes

Custard

Personal Sized Bourbon Peaches & Cream Trifle

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IMG_3686We’re the kind of people who order one big dessert and get 4 spoons. The folks who say “taste this! It’s AMAZING!” and let everyone sip the cocktail we ordered. Ones who drive everybody crazy because we want to dip our fork into your plate because what you got just looks so darn delicious. And then we pass you our plate whether you wanted it or not. Sharing food is our thing. (Unless you’re my dad. He wants the food on HIS plate and don’t you dare take a bite unless he gives it to you. But then, if you ask for a taste he’ll always give you the best bite anyway because he’s just kind like that. Must be the PRINCIPLE of the thing, huh?)

Anyway, this dessert is great for our kind of people because you can A) make one and pass it around so you can share it or B) make 4 and everyone gets their own damn delicious dessert.

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Teeny Tastes of Spring: Buttermilk Custard Tarts with Herbs & Strawberries

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IMG_2537My friend Anne and her honey, Jason, blogged about herbs that taste like fruit several years ago, back when I was only just getting my kitchen-legs, and before I’d been able to grow anything at all and keep it alive for more than a couple of days. I was all kinds of amazed. WHAT? There’s something called pineapple sage? And also lemon basil? Orange Thyme?

Its hard to find these down here in my little old town, BUT I did get some Lemon Thyme yesterday and have been trying it in every way imaginable. I started by garnishing a recipe of boiled custard I made with another of my recent ingredient addictions (buttermilk, obvi) and I have to say, I liked the way combining a typically savory herb with a dessert turned out. See what you think.

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Warm Homemade Banana Pudding (light!)

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Warm Homemade Banana Pudding
Weight Watcher’s Points: 5 per serving
One batch: 8 servings

Warm banana pudding… truly, there’s no dessert so sweet, and creamy, and velvety. some people think that homemade banana pudding should be cold, and made with vanilla or banana flavored jello pudding…but once you’ve tasted this, you’ll never go back. It’s not that I won’t eat the cold, jello-based, slightly crunchy kind from buffets or pot lucks, (i mean, it’s BANANA PUDDING. I’ll eat any kind any where…) but the jello version just isn’t as silky, comforting, and refined as the warm homemade kind that my grandmother used to make.

In fact, she taught me that real banana pudding involves bananas, actual nabisco ‘nilla wafers, and baked custard. Not everyone is aware of just how amazing this custardy-kind truly is (which means more for me!)

To celebrate losing 7 pounds, I decided that I could splurge a little with my favorite dessert, BUT I didn’t want to entirely blow it out points-wise, so I made a few substitutions for a heavy-on-taste but lighter- on-fat-and-calories version and took it on over to our friends Ashley and Will. You can ask them if they could tell it was “light” and whether they ate more right out of the serving bowl… (our secret) 😉

What you need:
4 ripe bananas
1 box of reduced fat nabisco ‘nilla wafers (or the regular kind, but that adds more points)
2 cups skim milk (or whole milk..whatever floats your boat)
6 egg whites (tradionally 3 whole eggs)
1 tsp vanilla (oops. i forgot this, but it turned out just fine)
1/6 cup stevia + 1/6 cup sugar (or you can use 1/3 cup sugar if you aren’t worried about calories)
1/8 teaspoon salt

What to do:
getting started is easy-peasy. preheat your oven to 315 (unless you’re using only sugar. then preheat it to 325) thinly slice a banana and layer it with your ‘nilla wafers.

 

in this bowl it took me about 18-20 wafers and banana slices per layer, but i’m not a stickler for perfect layers, so that’s up to you.
once  you’ve got the bananas and wafers taken care of, tackle the custard. separate your eggs, then combine your sugars/stevia mixture, salt, and egg whites into a bowl and whisk together vigorously (you want them frothy)

take the milk and pour it into a small saucepan on low heat. warm it until it steams (under no circumstances should you let it boil..seriously, you’ll get up with chunky milk. so. gross.) then pour it slowly stirring it into the egg mixture.

 

pour the mixture over the wafers and bananas and bake, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes. let it cool for 20 minutes then cover it until you’re ready to serve it!

 

this stuff is bananas. 😉